Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review

Sacral tumors are rare and can be benign or malignant. Their management is multifactorial and is based on the pathology, extent, and local and distant spread. Managing sacral tumors is challenging due to their proximity to visceral and neural structures. Surgical wide excision has been the standard...

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Main Authors: Venugopal Sarath Chander, Ramachandran Govindasamy, Venkata Ramakrishna Tukkapuram, Swaroop Gopal, Satish Rudrappa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korean Spine Society 2022-08-01
Series:Asian Spine Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.asianspinejournal.org/upload/pdf/asj-2021-0152.pdf
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author Venugopal Sarath Chander
Ramachandran Govindasamy
Venkata Ramakrishna Tukkapuram
Swaroop Gopal
Satish Rudrappa
author_facet Venugopal Sarath Chander
Ramachandran Govindasamy
Venkata Ramakrishna Tukkapuram
Swaroop Gopal
Satish Rudrappa
author_sort Venugopal Sarath Chander
collection DOAJ
description Sacral tumors are rare and can be benign or malignant. Their management is multifactorial and is based on the pathology, extent, and local and distant spread. Managing sacral tumors is challenging due to their proximity to visceral and neural structures. Surgical wide excision has been the standard of care for aggressive benign and malignant tumors. Our purpose was to evaluate the outcomes of a multimodal approach to managing primary sacral tumors in Sakra World Hospital, a tertiary spine care center in Bengaluru, India and perform a literature review to determine a workflow pathway. Our study was a retrospective review of patient records and included 15 patients with primary sacral tumors. Eleven surgically treated patients were evaluated clinically and radiologically and underwent biopsy before surgical excision by an all-posterior approach. A multidisciplinary approach that included intraoperative neural monitoring, plastic reconstruction, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiotherapy was implemented whenever necessary. Sacral root preservation was attempted whenever feasible. Functional outcomes (based on the Visual Analog Scale [VAS] and Biagini scoring system) were analyzed along with disease control, with a minimum of 2 years of follow-up. The mean follow-up was 29±9.8 months. The mean VAS score significantly improved from 7.8±2.6 to 3.7±3.8 (p=0.026). Bowel function showed statistically significant improvement, from a mean score of 0.81±0.47 to 0.63±0.52 (p=0.026) at 2 years of follow-up. The mean pretreatment motor and bladder function scores were 0.53±0.31 and 0.74±0.44, respectively, improving to 0.48±0.33 and 0.68±0.56 at follow-up but without statistical significance. There was no significant loss of function, which is expected in radical sacral resections. In conclusion, primary sacral tumors require a multidisciplinary approach and management for optimal outcomes. A stand-alone posterior approach can be employed to treat most sacral lesions. En-bloc wide resection is the optimal treatment for primary malignant and aggressive benign tumors. Preservation of at least one functional S2 nerve root is imperative to preserve bowel and bladder function.
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spelling doaj.art-a7cbb76499e1407dae01c515a40698602022-12-22T04:05:06ZengKorean Spine SocietyAsian Spine Journal1976-19021976-78462022-08-0116456758210.31616/asj.2021.01521390Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature ReviewVenugopal Sarath Chander0Ramachandran Govindasamy1Venkata Ramakrishna Tukkapuram2Swaroop Gopal3Satish Rudrappa4 Institute of Neurosciences, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, India Institute of Neurosciences, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, India Institute of Neurosciences, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, India Institute of Neurosciences, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, India Institute of Neurosciences, Sakra World Hospital, Bangalore, IndiaSacral tumors are rare and can be benign or malignant. Their management is multifactorial and is based on the pathology, extent, and local and distant spread. Managing sacral tumors is challenging due to their proximity to visceral and neural structures. Surgical wide excision has been the standard of care for aggressive benign and malignant tumors. Our purpose was to evaluate the outcomes of a multimodal approach to managing primary sacral tumors in Sakra World Hospital, a tertiary spine care center in Bengaluru, India and perform a literature review to determine a workflow pathway. Our study was a retrospective review of patient records and included 15 patients with primary sacral tumors. Eleven surgically treated patients were evaluated clinically and radiologically and underwent biopsy before surgical excision by an all-posterior approach. A multidisciplinary approach that included intraoperative neural monitoring, plastic reconstruction, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiotherapy was implemented whenever necessary. Sacral root preservation was attempted whenever feasible. Functional outcomes (based on the Visual Analog Scale [VAS] and Biagini scoring system) were analyzed along with disease control, with a minimum of 2 years of follow-up. The mean follow-up was 29±9.8 months. The mean VAS score significantly improved from 7.8±2.6 to 3.7±3.8 (p=0.026). Bowel function showed statistically significant improvement, from a mean score of 0.81±0.47 to 0.63±0.52 (p=0.026) at 2 years of follow-up. The mean pretreatment motor and bladder function scores were 0.53±0.31 and 0.74±0.44, respectively, improving to 0.48±0.33 and 0.68±0.56 at follow-up but without statistical significance. There was no significant loss of function, which is expected in radical sacral resections. In conclusion, primary sacral tumors require a multidisciplinary approach and management for optimal outcomes. A stand-alone posterior approach can be employed to treat most sacral lesions. En-bloc wide resection is the optimal treatment for primary malignant and aggressive benign tumors. Preservation of at least one functional S2 nerve root is imperative to preserve bowel and bladder function.http://www.asianspinejournal.org/upload/pdf/asj-2021-0152.pdfsacral tumorssacrectomyposterior approachliterature review
spellingShingle Venugopal Sarath Chander
Ramachandran Govindasamy
Venkata Ramakrishna Tukkapuram
Swaroop Gopal
Satish Rudrappa
Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
Asian Spine Journal
sacral tumors
sacrectomy
posterior approach
literature review
title Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
title_full Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
title_fullStr Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
title_full_unstemmed Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
title_short Multidisciplinary Management of Primary Sacral Tumors: A Tertiary Care Center’s Experience and Literature Review
title_sort multidisciplinary management of primary sacral tumors a tertiary care center s experience and literature review
topic sacral tumors
sacrectomy
posterior approach
literature review
url http://www.asianspinejournal.org/upload/pdf/asj-2021-0152.pdf
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AT venkataramakrishnatukkapuram multidisciplinarymanagementofprimarysacraltumorsatertiarycarecentersexperienceandliteraturereview
AT swaroopgopal multidisciplinarymanagementofprimarysacraltumorsatertiarycarecentersexperienceandliteraturereview
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